I sat in my room and thought. I'm usually not the person that regrets stuff but I was regretting a lot today. Everything that happened yesterday was.... Not normal. I lied back onto the Barbie covers and sighed. Jack was still confusing the crap out of me. And I feel so bad about Natalie. Really, I'm not that bitchy not to feel sad about hurting Natalie even if she threatened me. I shouldn't cause her some more depression.
I was going to apologize to her even it kills me and I swear it will kill me. Now, what about Jack? He's been acting so strange lately. Maybe his on his time of the month.
Speaking of the devil, he came into my room an extremely bored expression on his face, "C'mon, we're taking Ava to the library."
"Why don't you just take her?" I wanted some quiet time to think some more. Oh screw it. If I think some more, my brain is going to malfunction.
"Just get up and c'mon," He sauntered out of the room and I followed behind.
"Aren't we a bit moody today?" I smiled, micheviously. "Is it your time of the month?"
He snorted, not replying.
I hurried my pace to meet his, "You know why they call it PMS?" I've meet so many people with PMS that sometimes I think it stands for Potential Murder Suspect.
"Why?"
"Because Mad Cow was already taken," I crack hoping to make him smile, which I need accomplish. He chuckled under his breath as Ava grabbed my hand, "What's PMS?"
I glanced at Jack for help.
He put up his hands in defeat, "You're the one who brought it up."
"Uh... PMS is a... thing a woman gets when... she's really mad."
"What happens?" Ava blinked her big blue eyes at me. Oh crap.
"I'll tell you ten years from now,"
She frowned, "Will you be here ten years from now?"
That's a good question. I probably won't be here ten years from now. It's not like I'm about to marry Jack or something. And it's not like I wanted to promise a kid a lie. That's just mean, "No_"
"Of course, she'll be here, Ava." Jack interrupted, "She'll stay as long as you want,"
Ava beamed, "Yay!" She raced to the car and I raised an eyebrow at Jack.
"What?"
"Why'd you promise her that?" I asked.
He shrugged, "You never know. It might come true."
Hm... Is he trying to foreshadowing this story?
***
I rocked back and forth in the comfy chair at the library. Why do libraries have the comfiest chairs? Where do they get them from? Probably China. I listened to Jack reading to little Ava.
You know what I always wanted to do? A flash mob. No joke. Those things look fun as hell. I rocked some more until the old librarian came over and told me to be quiet, "I'm not doing anything, woman."
"You are rocking to loud, young lady."
"What? That guy is rocking his chair and you're not saying anything to him! Are you being racist?" Racist to redheads that is.
"Young lady, quiet your tone. I will kick you out if you do not listen to me."
I was going to tell her to shoved when little Ava stepped up to the lady and screamed, "Get out of her face! I'm PMSing!"
OMFG, I laughed so loud that everyone in the library turned to us. Of course, we got kicked out but it was totally worth it. I think I love Ava. Jack was crying in the car still laughing about what Ava said.
"What? She made me mad. I'm PMSing right?" She said innocently from the backseat.
I grinned at her, "Ava you're not old enough to PMS."
She pouted, "But I want to! Why not?"
"You're just too young but in five years, you'll be able to."
"So, do you PMS?"
Jack muttered, "All the time,"
I punched him in the shoulder, "Sometimes but not like you did."
She grinned and flipped through her book.
"Do you want some ice cream, Ava?"
She nodded eagerly and we went to the Ben and Jerry's that was near the local park. Jack and I pushed Ava on the swings and she finished her own ice cream and mine. Seriously, the little thing can eat.
"Let me push you," Jack said and I shook my head, "I haven't been on a swing since I was Ava's age."
"Just get on before I force you,"
"I said no,"
He grinned and chased me. How pathetic did we look? Two seventeen year old kids running around the playground with my laughing my head off as he grabbed me and lifted me into the air. We collapsed to the ground, me on top, the giggles leaving my body. I lightly brushed my lips against his and heard people say, "Ah!"
I grinned and sat up, Ava tackling me back to the ground. I lifted Ava up, letting her wrap her legs around my stomach as she hold onto my neck.
What a perfect moment. Then, I imagined ten years from now. Ava being my and Jack's baby, playing at the park like little kids. Would I be this happy when I have kids? I couldn't even imagine myself getting pregnant. The only upside of getting pregnant is being allowed to bitch about everything and everyone would take your shit.
Ava yawned and I noticed the sun was setting. Geez, we spent the whole day out. We headed for the car. We got home and Ava begged Jack to sing a song for her. He said no like ten times until Ava clung to his leg and sobbed. Gosh, the girl was awesome. Finally he caved in and grabbed his guitar. I tucked Ava into bed and Jack walked in, sitting down in the rocking chair, "What do you want?"
Ava grinned, "After tonight, please."
He stared dead into my eyes and begin playing the guitar. The soft melody was kinda catchy and then he started singing and my God, this boy needs to be on American Idol (PLAY THE VIDEO TO THE RIGHT)"There's something in your eyes
Is everything alright?
You look up to the sky
You long for something more, Darlin'
Give me your right hand
I think I understand, follow me
And you will never have to wish again
I know that after tonight
You don't have to look up
At the stars no no no no
And I know by the end of tonight
You don't have to look up at the stars
And I know if the love is alright
You don't have to look up
At the stars no no no no
I know by the end of tonight
You don't have to look up at the stars
No no no no no no no no no
Tell me how you feel
And if I'm getting near
I'll tell you where to steer
You tell me where to steer, D-D-D-Darlin'
Way above the clouds
And high above the stars
Through the unknown black holes
No one knows where we are
But we'll return to earth
And do it all over again
Cause I know that after tonight
You don't have to look up
At the stars no no no no
And I know by the end of tonight
You don't have to look up at the stars
And I know if the love is alright
You don't have to look up
At the stars no no no no
I know by the end of tonight
You don't have to look up at the stars
Now come away with me
Come fly away with me
Just for one night
No one will ever know
No no no, Darlin'
I will leave you satisfied
Forever past time
You don't have to hide
Your free to fly
I know that after tonight
You don't have to look up
At the stars no no no no
And I know by the end of tonight
You don't have to look up at the stars
And I know if the love is alright
You don't have to look up
At the stars no no no no
I know by the end of tonight
You don't have to look up at the stars
Said I know that after tonight
You don't have to look up
At the stars no no no no
And I know by the end of tonight
You don't have to look up at the stars
And I know if the love is alright
You don't have to look up
At the stars no no no no
I know by the end of tonight
You'll be looking down upon them
From heaven yeah yeah
Oh no no, oh na na na na na na
Yeah yeah ooh na na na-oh," He finished, never throughout the song losing eye contact with me. Does a hot guy singing turn anyone else on? Ava had snoozed to sleep and Jack leaned his guitar against the wall and kissed his sister's forehead.
I closed the door and turned to Jack, "Give me your phone?"
"Why?" He said, heading downstairs. He slumped into the couch.
"Just give me it," I snapped, pulling the phone out of his pocket. He grabbed my hand, "Who are you going to call?"
"I want to apologize to Natalie?"
"Are you usually this stupid or are you making a special effort today?"
"Shut up," I snatched the phone.
I strolled through his phonebook and found Natalie's number. I called her.
"Jack_"
"Don't get your hopes up, it's Tedi."
She hung up. Okay, that was a bit mean. I'm going to try a different approach. I called again and she snapped, "Tedi, I don't want to hear your bullshit_"
"Hey! I didn't call you to rub more salt in your wound. I just wanted to say sorry. Really. I'm really sorry for what happened. It was rude and just wrong. If I was in your position, I would have probably killed myself." I babbled as Jack watched me.
Natalie was silent.
"Um..."
"Sam and me are going out now." She muttered.
I perked, "That's great! He'll go totally head-over-heels for you."
"He already did. He sang another Bruno Mars song to me at Starbucks." She cracked and I laughed. The guy never stops, does he? "You know, I always knew you'd end up with Jack. You guys just had this chemistry."
"We're not Facebook official yet or anything like that." I laughed.
She replied, "You're not half bad, Tedi. I guess we can actually be friends."
"That sounds nice," I agreed. It's always better to have friends than enemies.
Jack snatched the phone out of my hand, "Hey, Nat, wanna come over tomorrow? We're having a party. Invite your boy with you too, okay?"
She replied all enthusiastically like. I guess she'll come. Jack hung up and smiled at me.
"A party with Ava here? She's going to scream out 'I'm PMSing!' again."
He shook his head, "My dad, Miss Heather and Ava are all going to a mini vacation tomorrow and will be back Wednesday. Two days with just us in the house."
That is not a good idea. I adverted his heated stare, "Let's play a game."
"Like the last one?" He grinned dirty minded.
"No, go get two pieces of paper."
He raised an eyebrow and grabbed two pieces of paper and pencils. "Okay, write the numbers 1-10 on the paper."
"If I wanted to do math, I would have stayed at school."
"Just do it." I wrote down the numbers, "Okay, it's really simple. We'll take turns asking questions and we both have to answer it. Simple right?"
He nodded, "And what is this going to accomplish?"
"We'll get to know each other better. Okay, first question, how many chicks have you screwed with?"
The edge of his lip crooked up, "Oh, is this supposed to get to know my love life? You have to answer that to, you know?"
I scribbled a 5 next to number 1. Okay, I sometimes screw around with guys just because I'm bored.
"My turn. Are you a virgin?"
"That's a personal question!"
"Answer it," He wrote something down and I perched my lips, writing down a big fat YES.
I smiled, "How often do you masturbate?" I wrote down never. Yep, I've never masturbated. Call me crazy.
He choked back a laugh, "Are you serious?" He scribbled something down.
"Is that your question?"
He laughed, "No, have you ever sexual fantasies about me?"
That's when I laughed. He can't be serious. Be honest, Tedi. Okay, I did have a sexual fantasy about him. I wrote down yes. I was about to cross it out but decided it'd be better to tell him the truth.
"When was your first kiss and with who?" I wrote down Jimmy Berg and age 13. It was spin the bottle. Hell, he was scared out of his pants and I just did what I saw on TV.
I wrote down French fries, "Boxers or briefs?"
"If I answer that, you have to answer what bra size you are."
I protested, "Those two questions are irrelevant to each other!"
He shrugged, "You asked."
"Fine!" I wrote down 34B and perched my lips.
"Question number seven, where do you see yourself ten years from now?" He asked. I wrote down in LA with a husband... maybe.
I smiled, "Eight, what's your biggest mistake?" I scribbled down kissing you for the dare. I crossed that off and wrote letting Maggie be my roommate.
"If you could be anyone in the world, who would you be?" He asked. I wrote down Gandhi or Katy Perry. Or Channing Tatum's wife who's name I don't recall. Who wouldn't want to be that amazing man's wife?
"Last question, do you like me?" Bold question but I needed to know. I sighed and wrote down yes, "Okay, now we switch papers."
"I'm not sure about that..."
"Stop being so self-conscience." I held out my paper and he took it, giving me his.
I read the list that was in some messy ass handwriting:
1) A lot
2) No
3) At least twice a month
4) Yes, every night
5) Sara Venice and I was 10. Worst kiss of my life btw
6) Boxers for life
7) Having you as my wife with a baby boy
8) Going out with Natalie
9) Madea
10) Yes, a lot actually
The ninth one made me laugh. If he could be anyone in the world, he'd be Madea? And the last one made my breath catch. I looked up at him and he stared intently at me. Jack placed my paper on the coffee table and leaned toward me, pressing his lips against my nose, "Did you really mean all those things on that list?"
I nodded, my stomach doing a thousand flips.
His lips skimmed my cheek, "I want us to be to_"
The door burst open, Miss Heather drunk laughter filling the room. I moved away from Jack as Mr. Gold held onto Miss Heather's waist, "Hey kids."
"Wow! That was fun! Hey, Tedi, guess what?"
"What?"
She grinned goofy, "I love this man,"
Mr. Gold laughed and carried Miss Heather upstairs. I never thought I'd see Miss Heather drunk before.